The Words Of My Mother

The first time I talked to my husband-to-be on the phone, he talked for an hour. You could say that he was very wordy. He will deny it, but he did most of the talking. After we hung up, I realized that all my nervousness about what to say had evaporated, and we’ve been talking together ever since that first phone call. When we were dating, we had our favorite bar we would hang out at to have a beer and talk for hours. As newlyweds, we loved to sit on the balcony at our condo and chat all evening. Now we talk at the kitchen table when the kids are asleep.

You could also say my father is very wordy. We always let him know when he preaches a sermon that is perhaps too long–too wordy! In preparation for his sermons I have seen him with piles on books on his desk. Bibles in English, Greek, Hebrew, German…and dictionaries for each of those languages. Now that’s a lot of words! Sometimes he would talk through his ideas for sermons at the dinner table; I believe listening to him is how I learned to write a decent post or two.

I love talking with my husband and my father. There are times, however, when the only words I want to hear are from my mother. There are so many questions I still have to ask her; so much advice I still want to receive. Even though when she was still alive, there were times when I didn’t want to listen to my mother.

As I was talking to my dad the other day, he started off by saying “Your mother would tell you…”

If there is anyone who knows exactly what my mom would say, it is my dad. Just those five words–“Your mother would tell you…”

I am without words to tell you how comforting those five words are to me.

This post is double-dipped for Spin Cycle…with last week’s prompt of “Words” and this week’s prompt of “Mother”! Stop by Gretchen’s Second Blooming for more great words.

9 Responses to The Words Of My Mother

Sweet words Ginny! That is great that you have supportive men in your life that you can talk with. Reading your post reminds me of how bad I felt about the grief I caused my mom growing up (you know the crazy kid stuff), even tho I no longer cause her grief as I got older. I am sure your mom is quite proud of who you are and the great job you are doing raising your family!

What a lovely story. I sounds not only like you have talking men in your live, but also men that listen. Finally, what a blessing that your mother still speaks to you, with love, through your father.
Happy Mother's Day.
Peace and good,
Chelle
My recent post AKASuperMom….(originally posted 16 May 2011)

Oh, this is lovely! I really need to give my mom more credit. Sometimes I discount her advice because it's from her generation and times have changed, but thinking back on how I was raised, she had to know SOMETHING..

Thankfully, I still have the ability to hear directly from my mother. The idea that one day I won't is terrifying to me,because no matter how many important people I have in my life, she is still quite often the first and most important.